Deadcuts / Band (Peter Doherty)

Info

Deadcuts is a mix of Postpunk and Dark Pyschedelia formed on the first full moon of 2012 in London featuring Mark Keds formerly of (The Senseless Things) and also know for co writing Cant stand me now with Peter. Trevor sharpe former drummer for (Miranda Sex Garden/Medieval Babes/ The Servant), Mark MCcarthy Bassist for Mick Jones and Wonder Stuff And Jerome Alexandre formerly of indie punk band The Skuzzies (who had a song On The Corner ft Peter) and Esoteric/Spoken word project (A Warning to the Curious). They have been playing warm up shows for Peter and Babyhambles the passed couple of years .

These are experienced and talented musicians who are able to portray, sonically, impressively encapsulating imagery and deliver music that is best taken in large doses. Reference points from standard bearers of the darker side of rock of decades gone by are clearly identified, but Deadcuts do not fall in to the trap of trying to recreate the past, rather bring a 21st century dimension to the compositions.

Deadcutsí debut live show took place at the Signal Gallery in Shoreditch back in March 2012

Mark and I write the songs and then take them to the band in Rehearsal.Writing with Mark is a real joy it happens very quickly and it usually starts at his flat in Whitechapel , basically We light incense and candles Mark reads some Lyrics from his journals and Then we both pick up guitars and its instantaneous - it doesn't require a whole lot of effort because it comes so naturally,We Spark off each other and our last composition took exactly 5 minutes put together, A magic act is to let these things become second nature such to the point where it becomes effortless and I feel that we've certainly mastered that part of the songwriting process, it just gets better and better.

Let's talk about influences?

Its incredibly hard to get All our influences musically speaking cos it would be longer than this entire interview, however if Im honest Im much more inspired by film when it comes to Deadcuts- films and Soundtracks that Ive loved for years such as Kenneth Angers " Invocation of My Demon Brother" or " Inauguration of The Pleasure Dome", "The Wicker Man" ( The original 1973 version with Christopher Lee)' " Jean Cocteau's " Blood of a poet" ,Dario Argento's "Suspiria" Curtis Harrington's " Wormwood Star" these are all films that stir the blood and that had soundtracks that took you to another world entirely- I try and evoke the same mystic feeling that these films/soundtracks create on my guitar.Also the struggle and the obstacles in life thrown your way are perfect because you can use that energy and fine tune it into what you create - once that struggle is gone people often find it hard to create and that may be why a lot of Musicians/Artists/ Writers etc write they're best stuff in the beginning.

Whats the worst things about being in a band‏?

I often wonder if I would feel things as acutely if I wasn't creative, in this business you get both extremes of High and Low ..nothing is ever neutral and I really struggle with that.A few examples are when you've just done an incredible gig its 5 in the morning and everyone else has either left or gone to bed.You have shared a cathartic experience with the audience and you feel half dead and somehow you've got to comedown from that and either go home or to the hotel I cant express how lonely it can make you feel.I call it P.G.B (Post gig blues), I find My Adrenaline tap really hard to switch off and I guess thats why I and certain members of this band once struggled with Heroin- because it would just shut you off from Anxiety and Pain wrap you in a warm blanket and help you drift off into a Nocturnal oblivion , The Sumerians referred to it as "The Joy Plant" but the trouble is that it soon all becomes a lie, you lose you creativity and it also saps your intellect..if your not careful it will take everything you own and like so many it has the power to Wipe you off the face of the planet.People often tell me that my life is like a movie and I guess that a true artist lives in an Extreme environment and does their best not to lose they're mind and reflect it best way they can.

What's the most bizzare thing that has happened on stage‏?

Jerome; The most Bizzare thing so far was during a stage dive that I did when we were performing with "Pipedown" with Peter at La Mariqounerie in Paris.Basically I took the dive and saw this girl that had been blowing kisses at us throughout the set- she basically grabbed me in between my legs and wouldn't let go!then Peter landed next to me and the audience was pushing towards him which led to the girl being pushed in the opposite direction till all I could see was her arm clutching onto me she had some grip I tell you!.After the show the girl ran up to me and asked I would create a " Moonchild" with her , I replied " The way you grabbed me tonight I'd be lucky if I could ever make children again!" She begged to come backstage but I made my excuses and ran...

What make's a good session for you guys?

Do you mean Radio sessions? Done a few of them Were getting more offers now the album is due- one in.Particular Im excited about is Patrick Lyons's radio show on Optical.I found he'd contacted us a year and a half ago about going on his show and was really annoyed I hadn't seen the message...Patricks a really interesting character I used to see him backstage at the Rhythm factory ( That Mark used to run) or at The Queens Head (where Mark Mccarthy used to live) the mans a genuine outsider reminds me a little of Captain Beefheart and recently spoke at The Nme Awards when Presenting Fat Whites with Their award.

So Jerome, u used to do a audition for Babyshambles.. How did that go?

One day Peter asked me to turn up and rehearse for this impromptu gig up at his flat in Whitechapel billed as Babyshambles. What struck me most about Peter was that he constantly had a guitar in his hand - and a real hunger to write Babyshambles had at this point not taken definitive shape yet - it was a revolving door of musicians, sometimes it was Steve Bedlow and Some guy called Neil? I asked Peter Perret Junior to come play bass and he bought his brother Jamie who is a great guitar player so the line up for that gig would've been something special no doubt about it.I remember rehearsing "Pipey Mcgraw" , "Gangsters" by the Specials and Johnny Thunders " Chinese Rocks".There is a recording of that rehearsal and some of it was fun but it was quite difficult to get momentum going (Partly cos I was late and in search of Narcotics)and Peter was in quite an emotional state ...I think it was sinking in that The Libertines would soon be over and he was still having to gig and record with them, plus this was the age where none of us slept that much.I never actually did that gig in the end as I slept through it - I know the Perret brothers went to do it but if Im totally honest I think the line up that became the Babyshambles that everyone came to know and Love was 100 per cent meant to be and worked far better, they did it effortlessly and punctured the zeitgeist of that era.Their shows had such energy, and I was very proud that Peter proved all those doubting Thomas's wrong despite all the obstacles in his path.

Great Story! Can u also tell us how u managed to get Mik Whitnall producing your previous band The Skuzzies?

Jerome " At the time (2009-2010) I was going to stay up at Peters country house quite a lot and Peter, Nik (Skuzzies drummer) and I were showing "On The Corner" to Peter as he had mentioned it was his favourite Skuzzies tune and that he'd like to write and sing a verse for when we recorded it.Since Mik's studio was upstairs in the Loft Peter suggested we ought to record it there and Mik really seemed up for it and partly cos he had got new equipment he wanted to try out.I recall the first takes were on an old Reel to Reel tape machine which also had songs of Amy's (Amy Winehouse) that Mik had been also recording and it gave that great 70's analog sound.Recording at Peters country house was a gas but at night time it could be quite creepy and it was such a big place that if other people were staying you could go days without knowing they were even there (Peter often would forget to tell you) and I remember recording late one night and Everyone had popped to the nearby shop that was at least 15 minutes drive away -anyway Im lighting candles cos sometimes the electricity would go out in certain rooms and corridors and all of a sudden I sensed someone coming towards me holding something in its hands...I was petrified as I saw this figure was a young woman and she appeared to be coming towards me! Luckily as the figure got within a foot of me I realised it was Robyn Whitehead (Daughter of Infamous filmmaker Peter Whitehead)who was filming a documentary on Peter and had been there for days filming the recording session!.Mik was quite enthusiastic to record there and was also recording early songs for what is now known as "Sequel to the Prequel" -I remember hearing raw versions of "Fireman" around that time and "Dr No". When "On The Corner" was recorded I remember it was around 6am and the sun was coming through the open window and we heard the birds singing the guitar parts to the song! No kidding we ALL heard it Mik, Peter, the engineer and I! We couldn't believe it!! our Label were anxious to hear the song and everyone was excited about the song and how it sounded,However theres no Smoke without Fire...Peter had written an incredible verse, and for some reason that Verse was wiped during mixing leaving us to have to use an ad libbed version earlier version of his vocal - when I eventually got home to hear the song on Cd nothing was there! No instruments just white noise!We then had to go back to Mik and get the recording from his new studio he had at Bermondsey, we then after many times of this happening over and over got a version which in my eyes was nowhere near as good, I still hope to this day Mik will find the best version in the archives one day as it deserves to be heard.By this point we were all complete nervous wrecks and had partied Way to much...it as a miracle the track even fuckin made it onto the album in time for the release date.At the end of the track you hear me say "Yeah...how was that?" And Mik shout "One more for bad luck" followed by Peter saying "Aye"..in the end we called it "One more for bad luck Orville mix" cos Mik sounds like Orville when he's drunk.

We know you guys had a trip too Paris performing a warm up for Peter last year..Can u tell us a bit about that trip?

Ok there were several nights booked under " Peter Doherty and friends" at the Torriano. I think Mark and I played three out of the four nights it went on, It was a lot of fun and probably very stressful for Iain and Kenny ( Sound engineer and Peters previous Guitar tech) as there were tons of acts to be squeezed in but somehow it was possible, It was the night where Miki Beavis first played with Peter and I got to meet a lot of the new faces like Thomas Baigneres Of Le Spark and other parisian musicians.Anyway were sitting backstage and Peter asked if we wanted to play two nights at The Mariqounerie with him- I told him I didn't have a passport but that gave him my word I'd be there, so come the day of the show I hid under the back seat of the tour vehicle under a blanket and could not believe how easy it was to get through customs! We got to Paris safe and sound and did two amazing shows with Peter culminating in the encore of " Pipedown" http://youtu.be/l7N1RMwo9BM or if you want a view from the side stage http://youtu.be/5y9yxwaow0k which we played together and was one of those special moments , I recall Iain and Kenny laughing their heads off as we turned up they couldn't believe I had actually got through customs..however it was not without its flaws and on our way back we somehow crashed into french customs, I remember hearing Mark shout " Thats it...were fucked" and the customs searched the entire vehicle...strangest thing ever was one guy is shining a torch directly into my face , I gripped my Protection Rune and he couldn't for some reason see me...when they finally let us go I felt a book on the floor and took a look at it and it was a biography on Aliester Crowley and the page it had landed on was talking about " How to make yourself invisible" I honestly believe that Will power and The Occult directly influenced that entire event and there is cold hard proof right there that it works.The rest of that whole trip is documented in my Memoirs which Ill send you under the title " Le Voyage Interdit" which translates as " The Forbidden Voyage".

About the new record; who produced it and where it has been recorded?

The recording took place at Trevor's studio ( situated in the basement of his opulent warehouse conversion) we did every there apart from " Ragged Star" which was recorded at Dropout Studios one year previously and was done in one take! Harvey Birrel who has worked with (Alien Sex fiend, Buzzcocks, Therapy) to name but a few produced the album, he is the perfect man for the job and knows exactly the sound we want plus Mark has worked with him since the early Senseless Things recordings.The Warehouse is incredible-theres always things going on there, Women in lingerie being shot for Vogue magazine,wild parties etc which reminds me of a line Ian Mcshane uses in the movie Sexy Beast " Asses, Tits, Cocaine ..its like Ancient Rome".
one of the Kitchens has tons of old vintage porn covers as its wallpaper, theres plenty of taxidermy ,crucifixes etc ...Surroundings are pretty important whilst making an album and I remember after doing a photo shoot in the front room we helped install an old pulpit from a church which was hundreds of years old- now odd things have always happened around this group and they seemed to happen more during recording.One night I had to go up to the kitchen to get a drink for Harvey as we were the only people in the house, anyway I remember going up the stairs and for some reason all the lights were off and I had to pass the pulpit to get to the kitchen, now that front room would give most people a bit of a scare it looks a little like how Dracula's dining room might look but I used my mobile as a torch grabbed the drinks and as I passed the pulpit it looked like smoke was pouring out of it..almost as if someone had lit a fire ,the pulpit then started to glow and make an odd humming noise ..so I ran to switch the light on and the noise stopped..however the smoke was still there so I checked around the pulpit in case it had caught fire but there was nothing around it to cause a fire, so I switched the light off and as I left I thought I could hear a faint church organ as I got to to the staircase.Another incident was when Mark and I took a break and were at the front of the Warehouse which is adjacent to a bridge which runs from Haggerston station and you can see the track if you look up where people wait for the train.Anyway Mark and I were chatting away and suddenly we saw this teenage girl that looked a bit like she was in shock walking on the track! So immediately I screamed out to her " quick move! a train is about to come" she looked at me with this blank expression and kept walking.Two minutes later I saw the train go past without stopping and assumed that the girl had heard me and got off the track.. At the end of that session I went to get the train home from the station and there was a sign up saying the station was closed, I asked one of the staff at the ticket hall what had happened and he informed me that a girl had jumped in front of a train, worst part of it was she must of been hit literally minutes after I had spoken to her. Then there was the time when Harvey and I were finishing the guitars off , Harvey was in the mixing console and I was in another room recording guitars, anyway everytime I was doing a take I'd see a man in overalls covered in dust and dirt stamping around the room as if he wanted us to stop making noise, at first I thought it was my imagination as it had been over a 12 hour session and was getting late..but it kept happening over and over.I wanted to tell Trevor later that week and was certain he would ridicule or make fun of me but the first thing he said was the exact same thing had happened to him when doing a drum take and as it turned out it happened on the exact same evening when I saw it.I have wondered if it was the man in overalls was someone who had worked on constructing the Warehouse many years ago and had some sort of accident, whatever the case weve never seen him since.I think its an understatement to say we were all under a serious amount of pressure to finish the album, some days we'd record then play a gig at night bring people back with us then carry on recording..we missed the deadline twice , all of us got flu , hangovers and literally bled during the album but never gave up.We utilised every experience to make " Dark is the night" the record it is.It was mixed in a studio in Old street by Harvey and a gentleman named Jerry Kandiah who has worked with Killing Joke in the past I believe its released on June 20th through Speedowax records.

How do you promote your band and shows?

We are about to launch a website soon which we will use to promote shows etc, mostly we do invites on the net and word gets around really quickly.Ive seen how our audience has grown and their praise keeps me going and knowing that were doing it right...

Here's another opportunity! Why should people come see Deadcuts and buy the upcomming record?‏

One way I can answer that is judging by what people say to me at shows, they often say that they've been waiting for a band like Deadcuts for sometime.A band that reflects the struggle of the times, the strange cataclysm of The Street and Mysticism that seems to whip up a frenzy everytime we play a gig, write a song or make a record, its with the same intensity-these people know that as soon as we hit the stage every bit of our blood, sweat and bio electrical energy goes into making and putting on the best performance we can.Who else would risk being banged up by the french police for smuggling their Guitarist in? people know they're getting the real deal and everywhere in this Godforsaken Planet people are crying out for it.

What's your opninion about downloading music online and what's your outlook
about the rest of record industry today?

Im totally against Illegal Downloading- its theft pure and simple.I remember watching a debate about it on Tv where some idiot who owned a supermarket was saying Musicians Should give their music away for free- Im sure he would have something to say if people just marched in and took his bread/milk and cigarettes without paying! then you had groups like Radiohead selling their album for whatever the public felt like paying and the presenter chipped in with " Why dont new bands follow this example" totally ignoring the very fact that Radiohead have sold millions of records in the past and are an established act.However this doesnt mean I have prehistoric attitude towards downloading - one must learn to adapt in this enviroment, there are always those who like Downloading and there will always be those who like to have Vinyl with artwork and lyric sheets.

Got other hopes and dreams for the future‏?

To make as much great music and art as possible,to learn and transcend and to stay alive ( You wouldnt believe how hard that can be sometimes!)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------DEADCUTS ARE PLAYING WITH PETER IN FRANCE AT LE HAVRE, OCT 25TH------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Upcomming debut LP is planned for June under the name Dark is the night on Speedowax records